Transcripts For MSNBCW All In With Chris Hayes 20200207

Hampshire. All in starts right now. Good evening from manchester, New Hampshire, im chris hayes, it is one day after the conclusion of the third president ial impeachment trial in american history. And the first ever, ever bipartisan vote to remove a sitting president. We are five days away from the beginning of actual primary voltvolt votes, not caucus votes in New Hampshire. Today as we sit here, the stakes of who will be the leader of this country were clearly outlined by the president himself, a day after he was acquitted of abuse of power, President Trump started the day by attacking speaker of the house nancy pelosi and senator mitt romney at the National Prayer breakfast and convened what he called quote not a news conference, not a speech but rather a quote celebration. In reality it was more akin to what President Donald Trump sees as well the real state of the union. The event was a free form, 63 minute of grievances like a rambling toast at a feud stricken family wedding. Congressman adam schiff, former fbi director james comey, he relar relitigated the election. His children would make a fortune if they behaved like hunter biden. Spent five minutes describing in detail the attack that nearly killed congressman Steven Scalise said he set a record for blood loss. He bounced from topic to topic with no clear plan or train of logic. Ironically for the past three weeks, the president has been publicly represented by well paid polished white shoe lawyers explaining his behavior in a mostly coheerent and generous way. He was not giving testimony under oath himself, god forbid. But today he was out there, talking for himself. Im going to play a small snippet of what today was like, warning, it doesnt make a lot of sense. A woman who became a we have a couple of women that became stars, you two, and i always liked the name of her, you know, i like the name lesko. I liked it. Thats how i picked it. I liked the name. I saw that face, everything, they gave me cards, he had like seven opponents, right. And you have no idea how much the public appreciates how smart, how sharp you are. This i cant tell. I cant tell. They just said, you know shes really good, shes really talented. I said, lets go. I dont honestly know what he was talking about there, an endorsement for congresswoman lesko which he apparently picked on her face and name, and thanked Mitch Mcconnell and congressman denver nunes and all the other republicans who helped him cover up his misdeeds. The president of the United States publicly solicited tributes and praise from those in attendance exhibiting behavior unbecoming of the leader of a representative democracy. Here is congressman mark meadows bending over backwards to show his undying allegiance to the president. Jim jordan, did you want to say something, go ahead. Mark . Just say that this reflection today, its a small reflection of the kind of support we have all across the country. Weve got your back. President trump showed exactly what we can expect from him for the next 271 days until election day. He lashed out the people trying to protect our institutions and brought the Republican Party even further under his mortifying control. It remains the question of the year whether the Majority Coalition of americans opposed to the presidency will essentially exercise their democratic right and whether they will be able to do that unfettered by literal election meddling, something the president has repeatedly encouraged and solicited. Joining me now, one of the people who voted yesterday to remove the president from office, democratic senator Debbie Stabenow from michigan. How are you feeling the day after today . Well, chris, its always good to be with you. I do have to say that on the one hand, its very depressing listening to what you were playing, certainly very depressing but for me, its a moment to recommit myself to what we have to do. We know what this president is. Hes going to do this over and over again. I dont know about you, but, you know, im tired of just going, oh, my gosh, what did he say, what did he do, hes going to do it all the time. St like adam schiff said at hs s closing in the trial, do you think President Trump is going to do this again, 100 . We know he believes hes above the law. We know hes going to get as much foreign interference to help him as possible. For me, the question is what we are going to do, and so youre there in New Hampshire, you know, in the middle of that, but the truth is weve got to decide weve had enough of this. We cant take four more years of this. Our country cant. Our children cant. Our climate cant. And so we got to say were going to focus on the real accountability that they were talking about and thats the election. And the other thing i would just say is right now, what were doing is focussing on going back to work in the United States senate, to try to pry loose some of the 300 bills, 90 of which are bipartisan that Mitch Mcconnell has stuck in his legislative graveyard, rather than taking up. Prescription drug costs going down. Health care, Climate Crisis, gun violence, election security, were going to go back door and do our best to shake loose and get something done for the American People. Gretchen whitmer this week gave the response to the state of the union. Governor of your state of michigan, elected in 2018. You were reelected that same year, and it was striking to me how focused she was on policy and Kitchen Table issues and i wonder as someone who represents a swing state, where you come down when you think about the message to voters on the president s personality, his character, the corruption and the basic meat and potatoes policy. You know, chris, i was very proud of our governor, and i have to say, she really hit the mark in talking about certainly what people in michigan care about, and its the same thing i hear from my colleagues across the country. What donald trump is, who he is, is kind of baked in. Right. What folks want to know is who are we, what are we fighting for . When he is at the state of the union saying he wants to protect coverage for preexisting conditions, hes moving a lawsuit all the way to the Supreme Court that will rip that away. We are on the front lines talking about, and not only talking, acting on those things that would lower costs, give more coverage, lower Prescription Drug costs. In michigan, its protect our great lakes, you know, the Climate Crisis is barrelling down on us, and nothing is going to happen as long as this guy is in the white house and the republicans control the United States senate. And so we could go issue by issue, but people in michigan are, you know, theyre tired. They say come on, im working every day. Im working two jobs, three jobs, id like to work one to be able to take care of my family. I want to know i can go to a good Public School thats just in the neighborhood and make sure my child gets the education they need, and we can afford to have him go to college or a skilled trade. I mean, all the things that relate to just having a good life. And i think people are just tired of this. I mean, how much longer are we going to have to put up with this. Well, you know what, not too much longer, its called november election. Senator Debbie Stabenow of michigan, thank you for making a little time this evening. Youre welcome. Joining me now for the state of the country and the upcoming New Hampshire primary, Charlie Pierce esquire, matt visor, National Political reporter for the washington post. Good to have you both here. Matt, as i was watching the president today, i was struck by a thought. His Approval Rating has gone up marginally during the impeachment trial, and i have the theory that anything that essentially takes him out of the center focus, even if its his own impeachment, ends up to his benefit, this the the president , this is who he is. We havent seen him in a while. Interesting because hes been at the center of impeachment, but not testifying. Not at the forefront, and this was a reminder, i think of sort of what he is and what he does and how he rambles as you point out, going on for over an hour, giving plenty of content to any opponent of his and reminding people i think of why theyre opposed to him. If youre a democrat focused on the primary race. That question, and theres a reason i ask senator stabenow, that, one of the key questions has to do with the sort of access to have do you run against donald trump as this abhorrent, clearly strange individual who is very different than every other president and from democrats perspective worse, or do you run on Prescription Drugs and Health Insurance and the climate . Well, i think, first of all, we had the president have a double header nutty, and the first opening game of the double header nutty was the National Prayer breakfast. Is the United States willing to go four more years with a president who is clearly deranged. I mean, that was exhibits a through d today. Having done that, then you can ask, are you willing to go another four years with a president whos clearly deranged and also bad on climate change, bad on health care, doesnt know the basics of his job, and lived four years crossing your fingers that nothing goes haywire overseas or that the coronavirus doesnt turn into an american pandemic because he and his administration clearly arent up to handling anything more complicated than his lunch order. The embarrassing thing to me today was watching that incredible array. It was amazing. Of sycophants in the audience. Nobody in that hall you talk about the emperor has no clothes, that story lowballs it with these guys. It did really have the feeling, this is something that he has done before. He does at his cabinet meetings where its a Public Offering of tribute. And its loyalty is what matters to him more than anything. He defined the Republican Party now along the lines of loyalty. It is still remarkable to see people get up and offer these tributes. I think he comes out of this emboldened. I mean, he feels like hes coming out of impeachment, and you know, he spoke just a couple of days ago in iowa, and you did not see this sort of display. No. In fact, it was so notable when he was in iowa, it reminded me of the last two weeks of the 2016 campaign. Do you remember those last two weeks. It was the most on script, on message that he has been and it was the comey letter and two weeks of donald trump sticking to the script, and thats the way he was in iowa and not the way he was today. And today hes coming out just after being acquitted by the senate and with republicans aside from mitt romney in lock step with him. I think thats the difference between the des moines donald trump and todays donald trump. I mean, if our choice is peaceful dishonesty or crazy north korean performance art, i dont think thats much of a choice. No. For a representative democracy. No. And the question to me, and you know, against the backdrop of this race here where we just, we have muddled results but sort of as much as were going to get, a race here in the democratic primary is really about this question about how democrats conceive of how theyre running against him, right, particularly in the sort of electability strain but also in the idea the center just spoke to, what you saw today, people know. Like this is who he is, and this is baked into the cake, and every one at this point knows who donald trump is. And the question is what you do with that as a democrat. And i think that that, i mean, this week is interesting for democrats. I was talking to Barbara Boxer earlier in the week, and she said this is just a sad, sad week and i was talking to her right after the iowa results and the whole debacle there, combined with, you know, impeachment and the state of the union, i mean, if youre a democrat, you sort of see this week, and figure out what the party needs to do. I think theres a little bit of innervating paralysis and fear about this moment, and it reminded me a little bit of the aftermath of the kavanaugh confirmation fight where you could just sort of see in the way people were feeling in the democratic side and that large coalition, the activists, a little deflated and then interestingly enough, that was right against the backdrop of the election, people very quickly rebounded and so theres an interesting timing here of this goes literally right into election. And i think youre going to see more of what you saw today on the campaign trail than what you saw in des moines. I agree. And youre certainly going to see more of it from the white house. For some reason, he gets more juiced with the trappings of his perceived emperor hood surrounding him. What you just said, thats so democratic. Do you think given i mean, this guy is the treasurer of sierra madre if youre running against him. The gold is all over the ground. Do you think the Republican Party would have, you know, taken a breath at a Democratic Party president who behaved like this today. They would have plowed over the rustling and put in a Swimming Pool by now. They turned the sheet ripping up into a 24hour story. The president outdid that in the first two minutes that he showed up at the National Prayer breakfast. One of the things i like about nancy pelosi is she hasnt apologized. I want to play this clip of pelosi today talking about her approach to the president. Take a listen. So again, i extend the hand of friendship to him, to welcome him as the president of the United States, to the people of the house. It was also an act of kindness, because he looked to me like he was a little sedated. He looked that way last year, too, and i started to think, there has to be something that clearly indicates to the American People that this is not the truth, and he has shredded the truth in his speech. Hes shredding the constitution in his conduct. I shredded his state of his mind address. There is, i dont know about the specifics of the state of the union and the response but it is clear that, like, pelosi pelosis perspective on him is she sort of has his number psychologically, how to make him fixate and in a state of confrontation is the only option. Theres a lot of hedging and they ratified the trump trade deal. She seems to be in a mode of confrontation. Its interesting, she talks about i pray for him and he looked sedated, you know, theyre like backtoback, those are the comments and i think she handles him in a way that most democrats still struggle with, and you look at this democratic field and how much they talk about trump, and how they talk about trump and they dont do it quite like she does, and i think shes got it in a unique way. And if you went to Catholic School and had nuns, you know what nancy pelosi is doing. When she tore up the state of the union, the first thing she did was make the page perfectly straight and then tear it up, just so you would know, and that thing today of, you know, boy, he might have been in trouble, he looked sedated. Thats the Italian American catholic equivalent of bless your heart. Exactly. Thats exactly what she was doing. Charlie pierce, matt rjts mo how the New Hampshire primary is looking at the debacle in iowa and my interview with Elizabeth Warren and how the impeached president is already signaling revenge. Well be back in two minutes. Revenge. Well be back in two minutes feedback that helps you drive safer. And that can lower your cost now that you know the truth. Are you in good hands . The new rx. Crafted by lexus. Lease the 2020 rx 350 for 419 a month for 36 months. Experience amazing at your lexus dealer. Lease the 2020 rx 350 for 419 including best director. D for 10come on awards, best original screenplay. Theres only one way this war ends. And best picture of the year. Last man standing. How you watch it does too. Tv just keeps getting better. This is xfinity x1. Featuring the Emmy Awardwinning voice remote. Streaming Services Without changing passwords and input. Live sports with realtime stats and scores. Access to the most 4k content. And your movies and shows to go. The best tv experience is the best tv value. Xfinity x1. Simple. Easy. Awesome. Xfinity. The future of awesome. As i mentioned earlier in the show, we are here in New Hampshire because in just five days, democratic and independent voters will go to the polls to pick their candidate for president. I should tell you, though, we still do not have definitive results from iowa. A few hours ago, the Associated Press announced basically threw their hands up, theyre not able to declare a winner in the iowa caucus. Were going to have a little bit more about how they got to the decision later in the show. We have polling reflecting the effect iowa has had on the minds of New Hampshire voters, particularly because of the weirdness back in iowa. All the polling trend seem pretty clear in the last few days, joe bidens loss is Pete Buttigiegs gain. Anyone who covered 2008 and i was one of them knows that nothing in New Hampshire is settled until the votes are countedment rememb counted. Remember, Hillary Clinton was written off and shocked polling expectations and won that state, even though polling favored barack obama. Two people who know the state well, helen nielsen, a political reporter at vox who covered the 2016 race for the Concord Monitor in New Hampshire, and and the talk show called the attitude, a former candidate for governor of New Hampshire. You know the state well. For people that are evaluating the candidates here, tell me what their presence has been like specifically. I think the strongest ground games are obviously bernie, elizabeth, and mayor pete. Theres no question about it. The top three in iowa, replicated here. Absolutely. And 2008, Hillary Clinton had been living in New Hampshire since probably 1991, so she had tremendous memory and connections here unlike what she had in iowa. Thats interesting. So there was a stability built in. Exactly. And what you have in New Hampshire is what bernie gets is like bernie memory. We saw what happened in 2016 against Hillary Clinton. They had that voting memory for bernie, which is an advantage for him. He obviously produced in iowa. He continues to be able to produce here. The other thing he also showed, though it wasnt a great turnout in iowa, what you saw was young people. Young people in iowa went from 18 of the vote to 24, that is his cachet. That is what hes telling the voters, i can expand the base. He did that in iowa, and he also came in at the top. There is a sort of interesting onetoone thing happening tracking polling. Buttigieg, the theory of buttigieg race was raise a lot of money, spend a ton of time in iowa, take advantage of the time he could go there when other senators were not on the trail, finish strong and catapult into New Hampshire and seems like the early tracking polls have worked a little bit. A little bit. Obviously, i mean, we saw today, i mean, i was in Bernie Sanders Manchester Office when he also declared victory after buttigieg had declared victory. Its not sort of the clean slingshot. Definitely not a clean slingshot. Its very much at this point, i have been talking to a lot of local politicos about what expectations are for candidates this week. For sanders, you know, he had a historic finish in 2016, won by 22 points, something we havent seen before. It was massive. And so obviously i think people arent necessarily thinking that hes going to replicate that high of a number, but people are looking to see whether he can win. People are looking to see if buttigieg, somebody from indiana can beat sanders on his home turf. People are looking to see how warren plays, a state senator and joe biden, former Vice President. As someone who knows the state well, and political organizing, you did not mention the person who has led in national polling, the former Vice President of the United States, joe biden who came in fourth in iowa. What is his presence here like . I dont feel any presence for joe biden here. What we saw in 2019 was sort of a tepid response, comfortable name familiarity, that has no meaning in New Hampshire. The fact that you have a familiar name has no meaning in iowa, why, because we have that primary muscle. We know to evaluate almost starting at the bottom. So therefore biden doesnt really come in with an advantage that he might in South Carolina, nevada or even on super tuesday. We evaluate candidates here and in a way, what happened in iowa just reinforced what i see in New Hampshire. He came in fourth in iowa, i think those votes are going to go basically to mayor pete, a couple to amy, and thats the best thing that could ever happen to him. I should note, right, that aside from the sort of muscles that are exercised by iowans and New Hampshire folks. They like these muscles. And theyre very proud of the first in the nation status, i get that, but these are very white states who have a different demographic composition than the Democratic Party in a state like california. Someone said lets remember that white iowa picked a gay, a black, a jew, a woman. Lets remember, when you look at what they did, just because theyre white, doesnt mean they dont have a refined sense of whats electable and good for the country. As you evaluate New Hampshire and particularly whats past that. There is this question at this point about two things, what happens on tuesday and who has built something that can keep going, right, because the calendar is punishing, nevada and South Carolina and three days later its super tuesday and the slingshot effect, i think were seeing less of the momentum effects we may have seen in other years. Bidens campaign, this is nothing new, they can they can weather a loss in iowa and New Hampshire with nevada, with South Carolina, with super tuesday, we are seeing the real test of that now. And i mean, it was interesting for me because i was talking, i was at bidens summers worth event yesterday. He was much fierier version of himself than he had been. And i was talking to some New Hampshire surrogates that said, you know, he doesnt need to win here, and i said, what does that mean for the status of the primary, and the momentum of the primary, does that mean that New Hampshire doesnt really matter anymore, and of course they said no, New Hampshire Still Matters but i think we are seeing this question talked about in a way that it wasnt in 2016 or past years. Which question. Whether New Hampshire and iowa matter as much as they did. I think losing is contagious, and i think bidens coming in in fourth doesnt bode well. I think he comes in here, he doesnt have the organization. I dont know whats going to happen in South Carolina, but why would you want damaged goods. You want to defeat donald trump, and you see someone who cant win in a state that looks a lot like joe biden, like New Hampshire, and i think in the end, its not going to help him. He is putting everything into South Carolina, and South Carolina is also smart. Because they know that in the end, this is about elect ability, and obviously hes damaged. And its a long way off, and fundraising may prove to be an issue. Ellen nelson, and thank you so much for being here. Thank you. Just a reminder, well be hosting a post debate special tomorrow night at 11 00 p. M. We will be joined by New Hampshire voters who just watched the big debate as well as candidates from the spin room. Remember to tune in. Still ahead, just what is happening in iowa, as the Democratic National committee calls for a recount, plus an interview with senator Elizabeth Warren. Thats next. Th senator Elizabeth Warren thats next. 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The ap is unable to declare a winner, they said, but today senator Bernie Sanders held a press conference declaring victory, and thats because so far 97 of the results have been released and according to the iowa Democratic Party, sanders was the choice of a plurality of caucus goers, he won that first preference where people come in the gym, say who they want to vote for, though because of the way delegates are allocated it looks like mayor Pete Buttigieg could eke out a very slight edge in possible delegates for the state convention. That is due to the slightly complicated way in which those delegate tallies are calculated. The Democratic National Committee Chair tom perez called for a recount, tweeting there had to be a recanvas, the iowa Democratic Party responded with a statement that a campaign had to make a request, should any president ial campaign in compliance with the iowa delegate request a recanvas, we are prepared. In a New York Times report, the Iowa Caucuses results are riddled with errors and inkoi inconsistencies. They were missing data or that were not possible under the complex rules of Iowa Caucuses. That is also apparently what led the ap to throw up its hands and say cant declare a winner. Now, to the extent anything is clear in this mess, heres what the bottom line is, sanders and buttigieg are very likely to wind up in a virtual tie for first place in the allotted National Convention delegates in iowa, which is what matters the most. Senator Elizabeth Warren and former Vice President joe biden will get most of the other delegates, but the sheer incompetence and complexity on display has not left a good taste in anyones mouth to say the least, it has a one stake, one vote primary in New Hampshire, and that is a particularly important moment for iowas third place finisher who appeared to out poll polling expectations in iowa, senator warren she joins me next. Warren she joins me next. 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And we proved that our country is better than that. 2020, we can and should have a woman for president. Elizabeth warren was in New Hampshire for a televised town hall here last night, and like Bernie Sanders and amy klobuchar, and michael bennet, warren will get to campaign in New Hampshire in the run up to tuesdays vote, no longer serving as juror in the impeachment trial of the president. And to the extent we can discern the iowa results, warren finished a strong third. She represents neighboring state, shell be on the debate stage here tomorrow night, and tonight, senator Elizabeth Warren joins me from the campaign trail in dairy, New Hampshire, a 20 minute ride down i93 from here in manchester, senator, welcome. Thank you, its good to be here. So i guess im going to ask you a somewhat loaded question which is are you happy to be out of washington and away from the impeachment trial and on the campaign trail in New Hampshire . Look, the impeachment trial was my constitutional responsibility. And i was there. I had taken an oath and it was the right thing to do. Now that that is finished, i am very happy to be here in New Hampshire, to be with voters and people who are really off the sidelines and realize that this is election coming up in november is more important than ever. And it is. Theres a number coming out of iowa that i have been kind of obsessed with, i feel like you might have a better view into it than anyone, which is the total turnout in the caucus, total turnout in the iowa caucus was about 2016, there were a lot of people that thought it would be higher, and hit the record in 2008, do you have any concerns about the level of activation, motivation among democratic voters right now . Well, i think it tells us that we need to get this party organized. We need to get it together, and we need to get focused on beating donald trump. I think the way that we do that is that we have a nominee who has a very clear contrast with donald trump. Look, you know what that impeachment trial ultimately was about, it was about corruption. It was about a guy who sold an ambassadorship for a million dollars. Its about a guy who thinks government is just there to make himself, and his family, and his rich buddies even richer and that is a kind of corruption that has infected our politics for decades now. Its just that donald trump has taken it to a new lows. And the fact that hes done that, i think, has started to bring people off the sidelines, started to bring people into this fight who werent in it before, but heres the thing, into the fight because they want a government that doesnt just work for rip people. Doesnt work for giant corporations but that works for them, and i think weve got a chance to do that, to bring our Party Together around that message, to draw that contrast, and frankly, to bring in democrats and republicans and independents along with it as well. You know, nobody likes getting cheated. I dont care what Political Party youre coming from, but thats the kind of American Government that we have right now, and thats what we can change in 2020. So im all in on this fight. Theres a story in politico that i saw you responded to, and i want to get your response on air, six women of color that quit your Nevada Campaign with complaints of a toxic Work Environment, and toe tokenism, i saw you responded to that and apologized. What do you want to say in response to learning about that . You know, i believe these women without any equivocation and i apologize personally that they had a bad experience on the campaign. I really work hard to try to build a campaign and a Work Environment where its diverse and open and everyone is welcome and celebrated and gets to bring their whole self to work every day. But im also very aware that racism and oppression in this country have left a long legacy. And it creates the kind of toxicity where people, power structures, people take advantage of other people. Its something for which we have to be constantly vigilant, and constantly determined to do better. I take responsibility for this, and im working with my team to address these concerns. I also want to ask you about a new entrant into the race, not that new, you have been talking about him a lot, but polling indicates that Michael Bloomberg who spent over a 150 million, going to spend hundreds of millions more, worth billions of dollars, has now been moving up in national polling. Hes dropping a lot of money on super tuesday, he is going to be on the debate stage in nevada, not this next debate tomorrow night but in nevada because the dnc essentially changed its rules to put him on the stage. Some people say they had to do that because otherwise hes spending money on advertising and no one can talk to him to his face, others say its not fair. Where do you come down on that . Look, this is fundamentally the problem weve got in our democracy right now. Were watching it play out in this democratic primary. If we are going to be a party, if were going to be a country, where the only way you get to be president of the United States is you either have to start out as a billionaire or you have to spend, you know, 70 of your time sucking up to billionaires and Corporate Executives and lobbyists, then buckle up because were going to have a country that works even better for billionaires and for Corporate Executives. You know, this is why i made the decision, when i first decided to go for run for president , that i was going to fund this through grass roots, that i was not going to spend all of my time sucking up to those folks and worrying about issues that mattered most to them, that i was going to spend my time on the ground. I was going to spend my time with people fighting for a government that works for them. And if you think thats the right way for our democracy to work, then i ask everybody, go to Elizabeth Warren. Com, pitch in five bucks, volunteer to make phone calls. Do some door knocking, but this is the thing people have to get in this fight, its about the issues. Wait, wait, i want an answer to the question. But i do want an answer to the question respectfully. And heres my answer to the question no, heres my answer to the question. Should he be on the debate stage . I dont think that billionaires ought to be able to buy their way on to the debate stage. I dont think they ought to be able to buy their way to a nomination, whether theyre doing it by reaching in their own pockets or whether theyre doing it by funding dark money pacs to help cosome candidates whether theyre doing it by bundling checks among their rich friends to be able to make donations to democratic candidates. I think the way we ought to fund our campaigns and what we ought to be testing out among democrats is who can actually build a Grass Roots Campaign because this is whats fundamentally broken in our democracy. Why do you think we cant get a vote on guns in the senate right now . Why do you think we cant get a vote on reducing the prices on Prescription Drugs . Why do you think those things happen . Because those industries continue to control our congress. And thats going to happen so long as they control our elections as well. 2020, the door has opened just a little for democracy, for a chance to build a grass roots movement, and were going to build it 5 contributions and 25 contributions at a time. This is our chance to take our government back. So its not about a rising stock market, but all of the value goes to those at the top. Its about a 2 cent wealth tax and investing in child care for all of our kids, an Early Childhood education and cancelling student loan debt, in expanding Social Security for those who need it the most. This is about who America Works for, and it starts right here with whether were going to have campaigns that billionaires reach in their pocket, and buy them. Or were going to have campaigns that are grass roots funded. Grass roots funded Elizabeth Warren. Com. Senator from massachusetts, neighboring state, 2020 president ial candidate who will be on the debate stage tomorrow night and we will be here hosting a sort of post Debate Watch Party which you are very cordially invited to, we will save you a seat, block out a time, i would love to talk to you after the debate. Sounds great. Okay. Im taking that as a yes. Thats a yes. Ahead, one day after the end of the impeachment trial, the white house is entering predictably revenge mode, the early signs of retribution from an emboldened administration, next. Ed administration, next but what i do count on is boost high protein. And now, introducing new boost women. With key nutrients to help support thyroid, bone, hair and skin health. All with great taste. New, boost women. Designed just for you. New, boost women. You cant always stop for a fingerstick. Betes with the freestyle libre 14 day system, a continuous glucose monitor, you dont have to. 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What pain . I believe that the president has learned from this case. What do you believe the president has learned . The president has been impeached. Thats a pretty big lesson. I believe that he will be much more conscious in the future. She thought President Trump would take heed of the lessons of impeachment, a statement that occurred that she had to correct in a subsequent appearance on fox news. Why do you have that feeling that he has changed or learned a lesson. Its more aspirational on my part. I hope that he has listened to the many voices in the senate who have pointed out that the call was very problematic. Yes, aspirational. We all have our hopes and dreams, senator collins. You have to wonder if she got a chance to check in on the display in the east room of the. Nadler, i known him much of my life. Hes fought me in new york for 25 years. I always beat him. Ill probably have to beat him again because if they find that i happen to walk across the street and maybe go against a light or something, lets impeach him. So ill probably have to do it again because these people have gone stone cold crazy. But i have beaten them all my life and ill beat them again if i have to. Well talk about the president and what his government is currently doing to go after the people on the president s enemys list next. Best director, and best picture of the year. If that was the last time ti was going to do that thing. Coming to Cancer Treatment centers of america, they treat the whole person. Everything is here. Imaging, infusion. I dont have to go anywhere else. They cared about me as a person beyond just being a cancer patient. Theyre my second family. Get care like no other. Call us at Cancer Treatment centers of america. You spend less and get way more. , so you can bring your vision to lif. For small prices, you can build big dreams. Spend less. Get way more. Shop everything home at wayfair toda. Just over an hour after President Trump was acquitted in his impeachment trial, the white house put out a statement asking, will there be no retribution given that the president abused his power and with this vail threat, one has to wonder what the Trump Administration will do now. And there are two stories that broke over the past 24 hours that seemed to hint at an answer. First a memo by bill barr announcing that all investigations into 2020 political candidates have to be personally cleared by him, a policy on its face one could see as reasonable or arguable at least if attorney general barr was seen as a good faith arbiter. The other is republican senators getting documents from federal agencies about hunter biden, including the Treasury Department which complied with senators request of highly sensitive requests about hunter biden and his associates. Joining me now Jennifer Rubi who was there at the white house event today. Ill start with you. Weve had reporting of the president drawing up an enemys list, the people he wants for retribution. Hes just saying it in public. It is very clear that, like, revenge is on the president s mind right now. The president has been waiting months to try to now seek revenge to all the people that he thinks did him wrong. Today in the room you could feel the energy of President Trump and his supporters. So it is not surprising now that were looking at these federal agencies and they might be the vehicles through which President Trump carries out his revenge. So you have to also remember that the Justice Department has 24 emails related to President Trumps thinking on the ukraine issue they didnt want to turn over. The Treasury Department is also withholding the president s tax returns so they could be doing other things but instead the Treasury Department is working with republicans to look into hunter biden and the doj is making sure there is no investigations into President Trump essentially. Yeah. The treasury contradiction to me is there are clear statutory language that directs them to hand over the tax returns requests, which they have. Republican senators want very closely held financial records that are very difficult to get on hunter biden and they get turned over like that. Exactly. This was the thing that he was impeached over, using the instruments of government to go after political opponents. Remember, he was supposed to be all that concerned about corruption in ukraine. Whats he going after . Hunter biden. This is the one obsession he has. There is no corruption hes going after. It is hunter biden. So i think people, you know, it was terrific that you had that segment with susan collins. I hope she is watching this and realizes how foolish she looks and what damage she has done to the country. She had an opportunity to put real restraint to really push forward a fully bipartisan even get a majority of the senate in the impeachment trial. Look at what she did. She came up with a rational. She and the rest of her republican colleagues are responsible for this and the ongoing abuse we will see between now and the election and perhaps during the election. And the bar aspect of this seems to be possibly the most important, which is to say if there was some criminal activity or reasonably criminal activity were taking place, stomach actual factual predicate for the n br fbi, barr is saying, no, it has to go through me. Thats right, chris. And there is this idea that bill barr is the exact kind of attorney general that President Trump was searching for. Remember, he ousted Jeff Sessions when he thought he wasnt loyal enough because Jeff Sessions said i dont want to be involved in this russian investigation. Bill barr on the other hand was sitting front row today in that room while republicans were clapping and really celebrating with the president over the idea that he can and should be able to ask ukraine for Political Opposition Research on a political opponent. Not only is this bill bar someone who of course wants to be vetting all of these investigations. But i think people really have to put themselves in that room. This is a president who was cursing and who was angry at people that he thinks are evil and bill barr was sitting in the front row just right next to melania trump, next to all the president supporters clapping along. Thats the energy you are getting from attorney general bill barr. The barr memo also seems to me, jennifer, a shot at chris ray and a terp assertion. I think he proves to be an incredibly important figure because we know the missteps that comey took in 2016, the fact that two different campaigns were being investigated. Only one was publically disclosed and talked about. Ray is now an extremely pivotal figure. His integrity and what he does in this Election Year . Absolutely. And you will notice how many comments at that weird event were aimed at the fbi, calling them scum, dirty cops, all sorts of name calling because he knows that chris ray is a man of rectitude. He knows that chris ray has the ability to speak up if he so chooses or not speak up. I think chris ray plays a very important part. He is perhaps the only individual left in the entire judicial capacity of this administration, the entire executive branch who can perhaps be trusted on a bipartisan basis. He has a Critical Role to play. Thank you both for joining us tonight. That is all this evening. We will see you right back here tomorrow night with a cool thing that were doing for the first time. It is a live studio audience after debate show with candidates and the voters in New Hampshire. We will be here to come join us. Rachel maddow show begins now. Thats what i want to see, you with a big audience after a live political event so you can say what you think and you can hear what everybody in the room thinks. There you go. Your dreams are coming true tomorrow. I love it. Thank you. Thanks to you at home for joining us this hour. 2002 was a sort of atypical year when it comes to midterm elections. In the previous president ial election george w. Bush had just been elected president , but that was sort of a